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Can a father's grief change the gun control debate? Editorial

Shooting rampage in Isla Vista, California

Richard Martinez (L), the father of mass shooting victim Christopher Martinez, expresses his anger and sorrow as he speaks to the media with his brother, Alain (2-L) by his side outside the Santa Barbara County Sheriffs headquarters in Goleta, California, USA, 24 May 2014. Elliot Rodger, the suspected gunman, killed six people and wounded seven as he drove through the UCSB college town of Isla Vista shooting as well as running over victims in his car before he died either in the shoot-out with police or from a self-inflicted wound. At right are family members.
(EPA/MICHAEL NELSON)

Will Martinez’s public heartache force Americans to see gun violence through more personal lenses?

There is no “correct” way to mourn. When violence strikes down a loved one, the emotions that follow are raw and beyond control. Often, survivors turn inward and surround themselves in the safe harbor of family and friends. Others — such as Richard Martinez, whose son Christopher was killed in the University of California-Santa Barbara shootings this month — let their sorrow and anger flow.

We can’t possibly put ourselves in Martinez’s shoes; grief is intensely personal. His expressions stand out only because they are so different from the stoic public faces hundreds of shooting survivors have shown.

Martinez’s unrestrained emotion could mark a turning point, a license for other victims’ relatives to share their unscripted anguish with the rest of us. And that could mark a redefining moment in the American discussion about guns.

History will show that marriage equality’s political momentum shifted when same-sex couples made the risky choice to live openly and redefine what it means to be gay. Showing the world loving families and lifelong bonds helped Americans see them as spouses and families, not mere sexual partners.

Will Martinez’s public heartache force Americans to see gun violence through more personal lenses? Some say no: If a Connecticut school full of dead kids and educators didn’t persuade lawmakers to stop the free flow of guns, what can one dad accomplish?
Quite a lot. Already, his authentic sadness and outrage have taken control of the conversation — before even Wayne LaPierre and the National Rifle Association were able to update their “too soon to talk about gun control” talking points.

So far, the post-Santa Barbara pro-gun banner has been carried by Joe the Plumber (aka Samuel Wurzelbacher, whose 15 minutes of fame should have ended six years ago). He greeted Martinez’s cries for leadership with heartless hostility: “Your dead kids don’t trump my constitutional rights.”

With spokesmen like that, the gun lobby might lose more supporters for its naked callousness than Martinez can attract with sympathy and common sense.

We, like Martinez, hold hope that gun owners — who have long supported reasonable gun control measures — can finally persuade lawmakers to act. We need laws requiring background checks of every gun buyer. Assault weapons and high-capacity magazines aren’t needed for hunting or self-defense. The gun-show loophole must be closed.

The NRA is unlikely to give ground, but lawmakers might be convinced to make common-sense changes. It will take more people like Richard Martinez — and, tragically, there will be more — to swing the direction of the gun control debate in a sane, reasonable direction.